Discover the origins of cryptocurrency, starting with eCash by David Chaum in the 1980s, through pioneers like Bit Gold, B-money, and Hashcash, leading to Bitcoin’s breakthrough in 2008.

Cryptocurrency as we know it today didn’t appear overnight. The journey began in the 1980s with David Chaum, a cryptographer who proposed eCash—a digital currency designed for private and secure transactions using “blind signatures.” Though his company DigiCash went bankrupt, the concept laid the foundation for later innovations.

Next came E-Gold in 1996, pegged to gold prices but plagued by regulatory and misuse challenges. Then, Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold introduced blockchain principles like decentralized ledgers and mining but never launched. In 1998, Wei Dai’s B-money explored pseudonymous, decentralized e-cash but stayed theoretical. Around the same time, Hashcash used a proof-of-work system to combat spam, an idea pivotal to Bitcoin’s mining process.

Finally, in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto synthesized these ideas to create Bitcoin, the first successful decentralized cryptocurrency. It’s now the oldest surviving crypto, starting a financial revolution that began with a modest purchase: two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010!

While Bitcoin is the best-known, its predecessors paved the way, proving the value of cryptographic innovation in transforming how we perceive money.